Time Heist
: "Alright. We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot. Five years ago we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each, no mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes." : ― Steve Rogers The Time Heist was a planned mission organised by the Avengers aimed at undoing the Decimation by going back in time and retrieving the Infinity Stones from major historical events, resulting in the final battle against Thanos who travelled from 2014 to 2023. Background Ambush on Thanos In 2018, the Avengers, Captain Marvel, and Nebula travel to the Garden to retrieve the Infinity Stones from Thanos. When they arrive, they are met with a heavily crippled Thanos who destroyed the Infinity Stones to keep his work intact. After realising there is no way to bring back the vanished, Thor decapitates Thanos and they return to Earth, completely broken. Scott Lang's Return In 2023, the Avengers became further torn apart after the fact that they could not reverse the effects of the Decimation. In a San Francisco warehouse, a rat accidentally walked over the controls of the Quantum Tunnel, which was housed in Luis' Van, and released Ant-Man from the Quantum Realm. Ant-Man then reunited with his daughter and went to the New Avengers Facility to find the Avengers. Once there, Lang discussed the Quantum Realm with Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, explaining the physics behind the Realm and how five years had passed for the Avengers while it was only five hours for him. With that in mind, Lang suggested using the Quantum Realm to go back in time to prevent the Decimation from occurring. Planning the Heist With Hank Pym gone and a short supply of Pym Particles left, the Avengers went to Tony Stark for assistance but Stark turned them down, having moved on and not wanting to risk his daughter's life. Hulk attempted to run Quantum tests on Scott Lang which proved to be ineffective due to sending time through Scott instead of sending him through time. Not long after, Stark returned having figured out how to safely and accurately travel the Quantum Realm to reach different time periods. With Stark's help the Avengers created a new Quantum Tunnel and Advanced Tech Suits as they planned out their heist, deciding to split into three groups to search of the different stones. Lang, however, warned that due to the short supply of Pym Particles they can only make one travel back and forth each so there's no room for any mistakes. After a successful test run of the suit on Clint Barton, the Avengers began to plan out the recovery of the Stones by studying the locations of the six throughout recent history. They realised that at one point, three of the stones could be found in New York City, and two others were in space. The sixth could be found on Asgard. Separating into teams, the Avengers travelled back to various points in time: Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man and the Hulk travelled to New York in 2012 during the Battle of New York; Thor and Rocket to 2013 Asgard; and Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nebula and War Machine to 2014 Morag, the former two then heading off into space to Vormir. Time Heist Quest for the Infinity Stones Theft of the Mind Stone In 2012, Stark, Rogers, Lang and Banner arrive in an alleyway near Stark Tower, in the midst of the Battle of New York. Rogers gave them their orders before reminding them to keep an eye on the clock, sending the Hulk to the New York Sanctum to meet with Doctor Strange and retrieve the Time Stone. Aware that both the Mind Stone and the Space Stone were utilised by Loki during the events of the Battle of New York, Iron Man, Captain America, and Ant-Man set out to retrieve them. Infiltrating Stark Tower, Stark and Lang witnessed the capture of Loki, having Rogers intercept Jasper Sitwell and STRIKE, who had procured the Scepter from Black Widow, before they set out to obtain the Tesseract from Thor and Stark's past-selves. While Stark and Lang attempted to steal the Tesseract, Captain America followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. STRIKE team into an elevator as they took the Scepter away to be studied, claiming to be a member of HYDRA by muttering "Hail Hydra" to Sitwell, which was more than enough to gain their trust convince them to give him the case with the Scepter, leaving them stunned. On the hunt for the escaped Loki, Steve Rogers' past self ran into his future self. Believing him to be Loki in disguise, the two fought, with the future version eventually emerging triumphant after he told his former self that Bucky Barnes was indeed alive and placed him into a coma with the Scepter. Theft of the Time Stone Aware that the Time Stone was in possession of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the Hulk arrived at the New York Sanctum where the Ancient One was defending the Sanctum from the invading Chitauri. Banner, however, was unaware that Doctor Strange was not part of the Masters of the Mystic Arts in 2012 and was still a doctor. The Ancient One caught on to the current state of affairs and initially refused to give the stone to Banner, fearing that her new reality may be defenceless without the Time Stone and that the Masters of the Mystic Arts swore to protect the Stone with their lives and giving it to him would break the oath. Banner then told her that Strange already broke the oath during the Battle of Titan when he gave the Time Stone to Thanos. Knowing that Strange would only do this if he genuinely had no choice, she eventually gave it to Banner who promised that all the stones would be returned to their proper places in time afterwards, and that they would survive. Theft of the Space Stone Ant-Man was tasked with incapacitating the 2012 version of Tony Stark so that the future Stark could get the case with the Tesseract in the confusion. Ant-Man shrunk inside the 2012 version of Stark's Arc Reactor in order to sabotage the device, which caused him to endure a heart attack. The suitcase was then kicked to the future Stark disguised as a security guard. As he was about to take the stairs up, the 2012 version of Hulk came crashing through, angered about using the stairs to go down. The case found its way to the 2012 version of Loki who used the Tesseract to get away. Steve reunited with Stark and Lang, who revealed that they had lost the Tesseract and seemingly had no chance of retrieving it. Stark then theorised that they would be able to travel to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Headquarters in 1970 to retrieve the previous version of the Tesseract, as well as more Pym Particles so that they could return to the future. Despite Lang's protests, Stark and Rogers left for 1970, leaving Lang with no choice but to return to 2023 with the Scepter. Arriving in 1970, Stark and Rogers posed as a scientist and a delivery man, respectively, and sought the Tesseract and Pym Particles. Stark managed to steal the Tesseract, but encountered a past version of his father, using the name Howard Potts and an MIT graduate as a cover for his presence at the facility. The two spoke, and Stark was able to gain closure on his childhood as Howard Stark revealed his true feelings for his then unborn child, who was in fact Tony Stark. After collecting the Pym Particles, Rogers had to sneak into a side office in order to avoid security, and became temporarily distracted with a past version of Agent Peggy Carter. He then met up with Stark and the two returned to 2023. Theft of the Reality Stone Meanwhile, on Asgard in 2013, Thor and Rocket found Jane Foster, whose body was housing the Reality Stone. Thor quickly deduced that they had arrived on the day the Dark Elves attacked and killed his mother Frigga. Thor was distracted by the sight of his mother, forcing Rocket to get the Reality Stone from Jane Foster himself, only to be chased by the Einherjar after being successful. Rocket eventually met up with Thor and Frigga. Before they went back to the present, Thor was able to summon Mjølnir to him, happy that he was still worthy, and said goodbye to Frigga. Theft of the Power Stone After being dropped off by Black Widow and Hawkeye with the ships pod on Morag, War Machine and Nebula waited for Star-Lord, who would steal the Orb containing the Power Stone. The two then trailed Quill, who agreed that he was an idiot. War Machine then knocks out Star-Lord and Nebula steals the tool that Star-Lord would use to gain access to the room containing the orb. Nebula then used her cybernetic arm to get the orb. The two then proceeded to transport themselves back to the present. However in the process, Nebula was incapacitated by alternate memories from another version of her, who was in Thanos' ship with Thanos and Gamora, leaving her alone in the past. Kidnapping of Nebula The Nebula and Gamora of 2014 were on a mission when Thanos summoned them to debrief them on their mission to retrieve the Power Stone with Ronan the Accuser. However, Nebula began feeling pain and began playing a memory from the future Nebula which prompted Thanos to bring them to a room with Ebony Maw, where he revealed that the implants in both Nebulas were interacting with each other which allowed both to access the others' memory files. This allowed Thanos to see the future where he ends up being decapitated by Thor. Thanos stopped Ebony Maw from killing Nebula as he discovered a way to accelerate his plans. Nebula on Morag rushed to the pod to contact Clint and Natasha to warn them that the 2014 Thanos was now aware of their plans, but was captured. The 2014 Nebula then went to the future in order to help bring Thanos and his army to 2023. Sacrifice of Natasha Romanoff Hawkeye and Black Widow arrived on Vormir where they meet the Red Skull and are told about the stone requiring a sacrifice. The two spent time on the edge debating on who should be the one to die. Hawkeye volunteers, asking Natasha to tell his family that he loves them. She strikes him, telling him to say it himself before rushing off to the edge. Hawkeye then chased her down and the two have a scuffle. They then fall off the cliff. with Barton using a grapple to hang on to while holding on to Natasha. She then allowed herself to fall to her death. The sky lights up and Barton wakes up in a pool of water with the Soul Stone in his hand, and then proceeds to make his way back to the future. Aftermath Reversal of the Decimation Everyone, including the 2014 Nebula, arrived back at the Avengers Compound where they learned of Romanoff's sacrifice. The original Avengers commemorated her life at the lake with Banner throwing a bench into the water. They accept that reversing the Decimation will not bring everyone that didn't die at the hands of Thanos back. Bruce reminded his fellow founding Avengers that Natasha's sacrifice was for the fate of the universe, meaning it shouldn't go to waste, with Steve agreeing. Tony, Rocket, and Bruce began working on a new Infinity Gauntlet. After the creation of the Gauntlet was complete, Rocket asked who was going to be the one to reverse the Decimation. At first, Thor proposed himself, but the Avengers held him back because they said he was not in shape. Then, Banner proposed himself, citing that the Stones, like his own body, emit Gamma Radiation which can benefit him. Everyone braces themselves in the event that something goes awry, with Stark putting the building on lockdown. Meanwhile, 2014 Nebula began to sabotage the Quantum Tunnel to bring 2014 Thanos and his ship to the present as Bruce put on the Gauntlet. The Avengers were too occupied to notice the commotion, even when a part of the roof had been destroyed. The Avengers began worrying for him as he channelled the power of the Stones through his body. After some difficulty, Banner snapped his fingers and every victim of the Decimation was resurrected. As the Sanctuary II with Thanos onboard appeared overhead, Ant-Man assumed that the plan had worked as he looked outside to observe the nature, noticing birds on a tree that were not there before, and their victory was proven when Clint received a call from his wife Laura.Category:Wars